1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to toilets and, more particularly, to devices which may be used in conjunction with toilets for the purpose of conserving the volume of water consumed during the flushing of waste from a toilet.
2. Description of Related Art
Most toilets today comprise a reservoir for storing a body of water and a bowl into which solid and liquid waste material is deposited. To dispose of the waste material, the entire body of water stored in the reservoir is released into the bowl thereby flushing and discharging the waste from the bowl into a septic or sewer system.
The volume of water necessary to flush and discharge waste material from the bowl is often less than the volume of water stored in the reservoir. For example, less water is required to flush and discharge a small quantity of solid waste material or liquid waste than is required for a larger quantity of solid waste.
On the typical toilet, however, the volume of water consumed during each flushing process is generally not adjustable without physically adjusting a float mechanism, or other similar valve control, controlling the volume of water permitted to enter the toilet reservoir. This method of adjusting the water volume is impractical and inconvenient where frequent adjustment is required, such as where the quantity of waste material sought to be discharged from the bowl is relatively small or where the waste material is in liquid form.
Accordingly, much water is wasted since the reservoir volume is the same whether flushing a large quantity of solid waste material or a smaller quantity of liquid waste. Others have attempted to design devices for conserving the amount of water consumed during each flushing process. The majority of these devices, however, are not readily installable by the average consumer, are designed to be installed within the existing toilet reservoir and do not offer selectively alternative flushing volumes dependent upon the volume of water required to effectively flush the toilet bowl.